Players curious about enlisting as COG soldiers to fight against the ferocious Locust onslaught are going to be in for a treat. Epic Games is definitely working hard on the best title in the Gears of War Trilogy, Gears of War 3. The team’s dedication is really showing in their newly released Multiplayer Beta. I was lucky enough to get an early hands on look at the title and, in all honesty, it’s been taking up a lot of my time.

Epic Games has done a superb job with Gears of War 3’s multiplayer. They have found a perfect medium between the original Gears of War and Gears of War 2, making it the most entertaining and polished title of the series. Little tweaks such as increasing the games speed give the experience more fluidity, while keeping the same Gears of War feel.

So what makes the new Gears of War multiplayer so good? Let’s start with weapons.

There are surprisingly a lot of weapons at your disposal. Some old favorites are there, but they feel brand new and more visceral, while the new additions to the deadly Gears’ arsenal fit in perfectly and pack a lot of punch. Returning from previous installments are the Lancer, Scorcher (flame thrower), Pistol, Gnasher (shotgun), Boomshot, Mulcher (Large Machine Gun), Torque Bow, Longshot (sniper rifle),  Mortor, Boltok revolver, Gorgon SMG and the Hammer burst (semi automatic rifle)—some of these classics remain fundamentally the same, while others have changed a bit.

The Longshot, for example, has the zoom substantially increased.

The Gorgon SMG used to shoot in bursts, but is now a fully fledged automatic hand gun.

The new and improved Hammer Burst is now becoming one of my favorite weapons. Not only is it really strong, but it now comes with an iron sight view that’s initiated when aiming down your sights, which makes the gun even more accurate than it already is.

Picking up either of these weapons will instantly give your team a bit of a boost in power. The classic guns of the franchise remain intact and enhanced in some cases, but these new weapons simply cannot be overlooked.

The coolest of the new weapons is a subterranean mine launcher called the “Digger Launcher.” Once shot, the ground will literally be torn and thrown up from the sheer force of the propelled explosive device. If you’ve seen the movie “Tremors,” then you’ll know what to do when you see this coming for you. Just run out of the way until it’s gone. Naturally, you’d want to hide behind cover. That’s not such a bright idea actually. Hiding behind cover is useless because it travels underground. The mine explodes when the opposing payers are within proximity, and it’s quite a big blast too. Just stay clear of this powerful weapon.

If you’re a fan of sniping, then this power weapon will be an instantaneous favorite. This new weapon is called the “One Shot”, and it does exactly what it implies—takes down enemies in one shot. The larger than life sniper rifle only comes with a limited amount of ammunition, but will bring immediate fear to the other players. Your presence with this gun will definitely be known due to its wandering laser sight. If you’re caught standing still, have fun respawning. If you and your friends are standing in a line for some odd reason, you will all be enjoying the respawn time together. The gun shreds through several players with ease. It’s definitely an incredible sight to see. However, the One Shot is extremely heavy, so if you chase the deadly sniper down, that player won’t be going very far at all.

The last two new weapons are variations of some of our favorite killing machines. Along with the Lancer and Gnasher, we also have the Retro Lancer and Sawed off Shotgun. The Retro Lancer is similar to the standard Lancer, but has a really gruesome modification. The original Lancer comes with a chainsaw; this lancer comes equipped with a vicious bayonet. If you hold down the “B” button, then your character will run at ramming speed towards the enemy of your choice. If you hit them, then that player will be impaled on your gun, causing instant death. The Retro Lancer is even stronger than the standard Lancer, but is lacking in the accuracy department, so you want to be at close range when using it.

The sawed-off shotgun is an extremely deadly weapon, but only at an excessively close range. It can easily kill two players with a nicely placed shot, but if you miss, prepare to feel the wrath of the reload time. It is unbearably long, but it’s definitely a powerful weapon to have in your back pocket—just be sure that your bullets will be making contact.

The game is already looking very impressive in the weapons department, and I didn’t even mention the grenades at your disposal yet. Smoke, fragmentation and ink grenades are all back and even stronger. The ink grenade is especially useful this time around. It leaves a massive black cloud of death and will force players to take another route.

There’s also a new grenade to add to your arsenal, the incendiary grenade. This hot newcomer will demolish entire teams in a blaze of glory. Plant one of these on the ground near an objective and the players won’t expect a thing until it’s too late. Alternatively you can grab a meat shield, stick a grenade on them, and toss the character back into his or her buddies.

There is one small issue with the grenades and it’s similar to that of the torque bow. When a grenade is thrown near you, you don’t really hear it drop. You hear and feel the explosion, but not the warning signs of an impending grenade. If you’re hit with an arrow from the Torque Bow, you won’t know until you’ve blown up. There’s no vibration upon the arrows impact. So there are times when you’ll get hit with an arrow and all of a sudden half your team is in pieces because they were standing close together and no one knew you were a walking time bomb. Hopefully it will be fixed before the game ships.

One last thing that Epic has added to their new and improved gun collection is improved weapon specific executions. Become proficient enough with a specific gun and you will unlock it. These are violent, graphic and hilarious all at the same time. For example, if you have the execution for the Scorcher unlocked, then your character will spear the opponent with the weapon and then fire the flamethrower. This will result in fire spewing out of all the limbs. Or if you have the Retro Lancer execution available, this will show the player stabbing the characters in the ribs followed up by a swift slice to the neck. It’s a great way to get players to use a variety of weapons.

For you purist out there, don’t worry, the curb stomp is still there .

Of course, what’s a game without any levels to play on? The beta starts off with four fast paced and diverse maps.  All are fun to play on and it’s really hard to choose a favorite. Remember the deadly One Shot rifle I discussed? Well, that gun is only available on the dirty, brown and bloody level known as Trenches. This map is definitely on the smaller side of the four available. Cover is essential here due to the ruined passageways that are broken up by some tight corners. Unless your team can hold down a side of the map securely, you definitely want to keep your head on a swivel. Otherwise, you will get cornered quickly. If you happen to master the Digger Launcher on this map, you will have no problem getting kills. There is a great environmental event that occurs during each match. Loud horns will start to blow and the next thing you know, you’re hit with a sandstorm. This obscures any long range vision for about 15 to 20 seconds. It’s the perfect time to get by unsuspecting enemies.

With Trenches being the dirtiest map, you now have Thrashball, which is considerably cleaner. Taking place in a Thrashball field, the level has players start off in what would be locker rooms and both teams will make a dash for the power weapon at the center of the map. There’s a very narrow passage way on one side that will be the victim of many fire fights. On the opposing side, there’s an elevated concession stand which gives view to the entire map and would be a great vantage point if players were to take control of it. Hovering ominously over the center of the rubble and decrepit grass is a scoreboard. Players should pay attention to this because it can be shot down and will obliterate anyone that happened to be underneath it. Anyone who falls victim to that will be ashamed.

Next up is Checkout. What use to be a lovely, flourishing supermarket in a multi-leveled mall has now been reduced to a high octane battlefield of violence and gore. Bookshelves and racks have been overturned to create essential pieces of cover in this deadly battlefield. This circular map will have you constantly firing at someone from all angles. You will constantly be getting flankedl and some of the cover you have available will break if it takes too much fire.

The final map in the beta is Old Town. This is the largest map available and the most lush and vibrant. Cobblestone walkways, beach entries and sunlight are the perfect scenario for a shoot out don’t you think? This map has several places to hide behind and catch entire teams off guard. There’s a farmers market in the center of the map, but most of the action occurs near the sniper rifle spawn. There’s a narrow pathway that both teams will rush for at the start of the game. The matches quickly become intense and it doesn’t ease up at all. If that doesn’t do it for you, then there are chickens running around on the map that you can kick like in Fable.

Even though there are only four maps available, Epic may add more maps to the beta. In the latest issue of Game Informer, they played on two other maps—Overpass and Mercy. There’s no word on whether we’ll get to play on the mentioned maps, but it’d be great to get an even bigger taste of Gears of War 3’s addictive multiplayer. It’s great that they’ve even brought back some of the game’s modes from previous installments and have even modified them slightly.

The beta has three game-types available: Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill and Capture the Leader.  You’ll never get bored playing these game-types. King of the Hill (formerly known as Annex) and Capture the Leader are similar to the franchise’s previous installments. Don’t fix what isn’t broken and that’s alright with me.

The biggest change occurred with Team Deathmatch. Team Deathmatch in previous titles was much harder for people to have fun with. If you died, then that was it. You’d have to wait to respawn, which in turn, made it difficult to get good at. It also wasn’t very fun. Dying at the start of the match was horrible, and it really killed your enjoyment for the game.

Epic has changed that style of play for the better, but they still did not reduce the mode to the traditional type of play style. Rather than build up to a set score, the team has a certain amount of deaths they can lose before the game is over. Team deathmatch is frantic in Gears of War 3 and games go by quickly. Don’t expect the Call of Duty or Halo style of play with games that slow down at 49 to 49. The momentum never stops and it’s a welcome change to the norm.

It’s great to see that Gears of War only got better with time. Along with the core gameplay, there are badges that players can show off, an events section that will display announcements for the game and they finally incorporated women into the fight as well. This is just the beta, and it already feels like a complete experience. Get ready to be blown away with Gears of War 3 this fall when the game is released. Those who are in the beta early are already enjoying it. When more people join the fight, that fun will only be multiplied.

Bulletstorm sees players taking on the role of Grayson Hunt, an ex mercenary exiled to the far reaches of the galaxy after realising he was fighting for the wrong side. Brimming with revenge Grayson first has to get off the planet, one outrageous path of destruction before the next.

Bulletstorm is a first person shooter like no other. Games are becoming more and more realistic, Bulletstorm is not. The game is centred on over the top action challenging the player to kill their enemies in ever more stylish fashions rewarding them with masses of points if they do.

I started the demo in a desert like environment, I was met with a sandy floor littered with cacti who themselves where covered in ominous looking spikes ready for the approaching enemies. I was armed with an energy beam whip, an assault rifle and the “flail gun” however the most interesting weapon is the environment which provided impalements, explosions and deadly drops. I was able to use the whip in order to grab enemies pull them towards me or flick them into the air at which point they entered a personal slow down of time allowing me to kill them however I wanted.

For example I was able to move close and kick a few into those nice shiny spikes on the cactus. I was able to carefully place a bullet into an enemies head or become really stylish pulling an enemy towards me, firing the flail guns grenades into him before kicking him back at another enemy for nice looking explosion. The different ways to kill enemies is the main focus of this game with more and more points being given to those who can execute stylish, fancy looking kills.

Using different techniques is also required to overcome certain enemies, for example later in the demo I was presented with a Heavy character, a large enemy who happened to also wield a very large gun. To beat this enemy I had to use the whip in order to flip him around in order to attack his weak point for massive damage.

Shortly following this I was presented with another new enemy, a giant worm, and I could see that more ingenuity would be needed to overcome this foe. Unfortunately that was the end of the demo leaving me unable to experiment with different tactics but thirsty for more Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm isn’t like most first person shooters, as I moved through the game I didn’t have to keep ducking in and out of cover to slowly rebuild health, I was just marching through and focusing not on if I could kill enemies but on how I killed them.  I cannot convey just how much fun Bulletstorm was providing a break from the realism of recent games, I cannot wait till next year when I can play it again.

Patrick first reported about the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier demo in his Ubisoft Press report, but now there’s video evidence of the game in action.  Taking cues from Splinter Cell: Conviction, Ubisoft has crafted a unique mix of stealth and FPS mechanics.  Watching the demo has raised my anticipation level for this title tenfold and puts this at the top of my queue for 2011.  I’ll let the footage do the rest of the talking.  Hit the jump and prepare to be blown away.

The first character you see in the game is Coach Frank, who has a striking resemblance to Jason Lee from the TV show “My Name is Earl.” He will be your trainer for the game. He’s a very balls to the wall, in your face type a guy and it’s very, very funny to hear his little antics. He’ll take you through basic maneuvers such as ollies, all the way to the dark slide and kickflip-underflip. The game at it’s core is more or less the same. You still use the left stick to steer and the right stick to execute tricks.

You will have the ability to choose between 5 pre-fabricated characters, all completely different from one another. No character customization option is available in the demo, but no doubt will be in the games full release. The demo however only gives you a 20 minute play session, so after you’ve completed the training, most of your time will be done. When your game ends, it will take you to a screen asking whether you want to replay the demo or quit to the dashboard. Just make sure you don’t do the training next time.

Enter, Port Carverton. This is where your skater will be skating for the next 20 minutes. This is essentially any skateboarders’ dream. There’s an endless supply or rails and stairways at your disposal. Your first task is to perform a trick over a gap for a Thrasher magazine photographer. After, that you’ll be given more challenges to complete by the schools security guard. He will have you completing various themed challenges such as grind gap for example. You can do these or just simply free skate and do what you want. The demo area isn’t that big but you have enough space to do what you want and feel satisfied with what’s given to you.

You have two areas to skate in: The Chan Center and Clock Tower. You’ll start off in the Chan Center but  can easily make your way to the Clock Tower in no time. Surprisingly, both areas are completely different and forces you to adapt to what’s around you. It’s a really cool aspect of the game that will definitely separate the stronger and weaker skaters.

Skating around by yourself and simply just exploring the world of Port Carverton makes you want to become a skater. Landing a 360 dark-slide down a set of 20 stairs is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt. You just feel cool doing it, and others around you want you to make that trick.

It’s just a cool feeling that Skate has been providing to us since their first installment. The fact that doing these tricks actually take so much more then pressing the triangle and square button. Timing, skill, and practice all play a major role in this. It’s much more of a skating simulator then a game.

That’s not to say it will be too hardcore for casual gamers. It’s still a fun exciting skateboarding game. One mode in particular will draw a lot of attention. It’s called Hall of Meat.

The Hall of Meat mode requires you to bail on purpose and break as many bones as possible for points. We’ve played modes like this before, and it’s just as fun as ever. Skate’s little tweak is the cool x-ray mode that happens when the skater hits the ground, highlighting the broken bones. Believe it or not, someone doing a head plunge head first into the concrete is hard to watch at times. It’s not just falling though. You’re given objectives as well. Which, at least in the demo, just asks you to fall on certain objects and varied distances. It makes that mode more fun because you have an objective that’s more then just obtaining points. So doing a judo kick off a clock tower into a vending machine is pretty fun.

If playing solo isn’t really your thing, then the game does give us online play as well which is probably the most addicting part of the demo. They give you two modes to humiliate your friends in: “Domination” and “Own the Lot.” Domination is basically what it sounds like. There are several points on the map that you can control when you execute a trick in the designated area. The other player can overtake your area if they score more points in that area. It’s fast, aggressive, and games are always nails biters. There’s nothing worse then losing a game of Domination by less then 10 points. Definitely a tear jerker moment for me at least.

The other mode is Own the Lot. This takes you and several other players on a series of competitions. Such as first to grind on 4 planters or first to complete a certain type of tricks. These games are extremely fun and will have everyone yelling at the top of their lungs because they choked on a simple game winning grind. This is my favorite of the two modes. Having people fight over one rail to grind on has no other alternative but to be hilarious. I can not wait for the other modes EA and BlockBox have to offer. Endless fun without a doubt.

Skate 3 is going to be one of those games we will be playing for a long time after it’s release. Skaters will flock to it when it’s a rainy day outside, and lazy people will flock to it rather then learn how to skate. Everyone wins. The game ships May 11th.

Here’s the game’s cover:

Tecmo’s new game that’s set to launch on July 12th does not appear to be that great of a game and will be easily overlooked. At first glance what’s the first character you think of? If you said Marcus Fenix from Gears of War, then you’d be correct. If you said Hayden Tenno from Dark Sector, you’d also be right!

This character who we’ll call “Angry Buff man with a big gun” is just oozing uninspired from every pore of his 3D body. There’s nothing wrong with taking influences from other games, but this is basically a copy and pasted job. And what’s that in the background? The evil tower from Lord of the Rings?! Nope, but it had me fooled too. The fact that you can pick 3 different references solely from the title is not that great of a start.

But games, aren’t about what the cover looks like! It’s about the gameplay!

And not to my surprise, the game looks and plays exactly like Gears of War. Everything from the cover system to the roadie run smells like Gears of War. There’s also another character that comes out and helps you during battle. That sounds familiar too?! Yep it sure does! Straight from the latest Prince of Persia game, your character will also have a girl come out of nowhere and execute some aerial combos with you and you’re oversized Final Fantasy gun. Did I just make another reference?

Here’s a  VIDEO if you haven’t seen it before.

Co-op play is starting to become a requisite for most games, especially FPS’s.  This is the ultimate buddy-buddy shooter in the likes of Gears of War.  Testosterone runs particularly high here.  There are a few similarities between the two games: the cover system, co-op play, and steroid induced physiques.  That’s about as far as the comparisons go though.  Weapon customization and unique co-op tactics lend itself to some innovative play.

There are definitely some interesting tactics that you can take in this game.  The first being the ability to play dead.  This can lure enemies out or have them ignore you while your partner takes them down.  You can also feign waving the white flag and giving up, another tactic that allows your partner to sneak around or get enemies into open space to be taken down.  Also, on occasion, there will be higher ranked officers that can be taken hostage.  This will get the other lower ranked grunts to back off.  Then you can choose what you want to do with them.

There are also certain points where you need to work together to get past certain obstacles.  Whether it be boosting your partner over a wall or holding up a door/gate to get through, co-op play is essential to finishing this game.  If your partner goes down, you can drag him to safety and then heal him.  It’s pretty corny, but they use this blinding white light as he finishes his heal.  Almost as if he has some sort of divine power.

You can also bring up a HUD that highlights important things and marks up a path for you to follow to objectives.  This HUD runs on a meter that can only run for a limited amount of time.  It recharges fairly quickly so no need to worry about it running out.  The marked paths for you to follow will come in handy as I found myself lost running around looking for particular markings and/or exits without it.

If you are a fan of Gears of War, then this game is definitely for you.  The unique co-op tactics are well thought out and executed, separating this game from other co-op shooters.  I didn’t play through enough to get a grasp of the story, but it was intriguing enough to hold my attention.  This game will hit shelves January 12th, 2010.

The game ran very smoothly, and like all games of this type, was a blast to play through.  It follows the typical hack & slash formula with button mashing combos and special move unlocks as you progress through the story.  Shortly after beginning the game, you will unlock the ability to shoot cross shaped projectiles at flying or flamed demons.  Eventually you’ll also gain magic powers that come in the form of what appears to be different elemental types (water, fire, etc.).  Scattered throughout the stages will be fountains you can use to replenish the different meters (health, mana, etc.).  There are also time based button presses that trigger different moves/events.  For the smaller demons you face, you can grab them and choose between punishing them or absolving them.  These end with a special “finishing move” animation and will fill a good/evil (?) meter up.  I’m not sure how these meters will effect the story/game, but I assume that it will have some sort of impact.

Near the end of my play through, I had the opportunity to take the reigns of this huge minotaur like beast.  It was great being able to swat away tiny demons, burn them to ash with your fire breath or pick them up and chew off their heads.  A nice part of the gameplay that I hope is used often throughout the game.

I wasn’t too fond of some of the cut scenes.  Some, not all, use a cheap 2D style animation that seems to appeal to a much younger crowd.  I understand that it was meant to be stylized and fit more into the time period and lore, but they look like they were done with minimal effort.

If you’re into the hack & slash games, this game is perfect for you.  The story certainly has a lot of appeal, but I didn’t have enough time with the game to really get a good grasp on how much it would deviate from the original story.  While I didn’t have a chance to partake in any boss battles, aside from a relatively straight forward fight with Death himself (which ends in you stealing his scythe), from looking at trailers/previews, I can see that you’ll definitely be in for some epic boss fights.  In the end, the difference will be if this can evolve past the current set of hack & slash games with a solid story to boot.